Mark Carey writes:

There is Hope 

I keep sensing the word ‘HOPE’ rising repeatedly in my spirit right now.

In a moment when so much feels uncertain, pressured, or discouraging, I can’t help but wonder "is God speaking to us?” Because if there’s anything we need in this season, it is a fresh vision of hope.

It was so good to host and share in Rob Parker’s Album and Book launch at Christ Church. Rob’s songs and words come as a contradiction to a world that is asking “is there hope?” Yes, there is hope. Rob is bringing a fresh vision of hope - let’s listen! You can purchase copies of the CD and the book from our Network Office.

Isaiah understood this need for a fresh vision of hope (Isaiah 11:1-10). It is as if he was looking across a desolate landscape that felt cut down, barren, stripped of promise and he points to a stump and says, “Watch here.”

From an unlikely place a shoot will emerge.
Not from human strategy.
Not from political strength.
But life from God - a sign that His kingdom is advancing and His purposes are still unfolding.

1. Hope Emerges from What Looks Finished

Isaiah speaks of the stump of Jesse, a picture of something that looks dead, over, beyond recovery. Yet God brings a new beginning.

Hope often rises in the “cut down” moments those places in discipleship, mission, ministry, or daily life where we see limitation, loss, or exhaustion. But God sees soil, not endings. He is still bringing new life.

He is still at work.

2. A Spirit-Filled Leader Brings True Renewal

The shoot is no ordinary leader. Isaiah describes One anointed with the Spirit full of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.

This is Jesus.
The King who leads not with dominance but with Spirit-empowered mercy, justice, truth, and compassion.

And His leadership reshapes His people.

We are called to become a Spirit-filled community carrying His presence, reflecting His character, embodying His compassion in every place He sends us.

3. Hope Spreads Until It Transforms the Whole World

What begins as a small shoot grows into a kingdom of peace where even enemies are reconciled. Isaiah’s vision stretches globally - the knowledge of the Lord filling the earth like waters cover the sea.

We are invited to live as signs of that coming future, peacemakers, reconcilers, carriers of hope into the everyday places of our lives.

Isaiah invites us to look again and to lift our eyes beyond what looks cut down.

Because the shoot is already here.
The Spirit is already moving.
The kingdom is already breaking in.

So, let’s keep looking for the hope growing from the stumps of life.
Let’s lift our eyes to the future that is breaking into the present.
And let’s live as people who expect the shoot to grow.

Hope is coming.
Hope is here.

 Rev Canon Mark Carey